| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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29 November 2001 UNISON warns public before last minute bid to avoid Edinburgh janitor's strike UNISON's Edinburgh Branch is to offer City of Edinburgh Council the chance of last minute talks to avoid a janitor's strike planned for 3, 4, 5 December and 11, 12, 13 December. "While we would like to solve this dispute and avoid the strike, we also have to be realistic and make sure parents know when the strike is planned for so they can make other arrangements. We want to avoid parents getting late notice from the Council, which has been a problem before", said George Lee, the branch's manual convenor. "Because janitors jobs are so crucial to the school team, the public is bound to be affected. Janitors are responsible for fire alarms, heating, fire escapes, oversee cleaning and ensure safe playgrounds etc, and we expect schools will close on safety grounds. But we have taken other measures to try to stave off the worst effects", said John Stevenson UNISON Edinburgh Branch Secretary. These measures include: giving as early notice as possible of the action
exempting all of the special schools from the
action (where UNISON janitors work)
taking no action in the last week of term to
avoid disrupting most pantomimes and other events children will
have been planning for.
"We regret this action but we want the public to understand we have been trying to resolve this with the Council since May 1999. All janitors want is the same as their colleagues in secondary schools. Currently they are up to £20 a week worse off because the Council will not pay a nationally agreed irregular hours payment to recognise the long 6am to 6pm day. This is cheaper than the overtime they would have to pay for janitors coming in at 6am, but they are not even paying that. They can't have it both ways", added George Lee. The initial six day strikes involving 103 staff will affect 67 primary schools, 18 Community Education Centres, Dr Bells and one secondary school. ENDS Further Information |
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